1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data management apparatus, a control method of the data management apparatus, and a computer-readable storage.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image capturing devices such as digital cameras and the like are often connected to other apparatuses via a network. In a technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-175724, a DVCR (digital video cassette recorder) is connected to an apparatus such as a television or the like via a wireless network. In this case, the DVCR serves as a UPnP Device, and a PC (personal computer) serves as a UPnP Control Point. Note that UPnP is an abbreviation for Universal Plug and Play.
In UPnP, two roles, i.e., the Control Point and Device, are defined for apparatuses connected to a network. The Device plays a role to provide some functions on the network. The Control Point plays a role to use the functions provided by the Device. The Device has a function of informing other apparatuses on the network of its functions and of participation to or disengagement from the network by multicasting data. The Control Point has a function of retrieving a Device providing a desired service on the network as a service, acquiring information from the Device, and controlling the Device.
Upon connecting to an external apparatus via a network, an image capturing device may desirably serve as the UPnP Control Point or as the UPnP Device in accordance with a request accepted from the user depending on cases.
The user may input an instruction to display image data captured by an image capturing device on a television screen by operating the television or television remote controller. At this time, it is desired that the image capturing device serves as the UPnP Device, and the television serves as the UPnP Control Point.
The user may operate the image capturing device to input an instruction to send image data captured by the image capturing device to the television, and to display it on the television screen. At this time, it is desired that the television serves as the UPnP Device, and the image capturing device serves as the UPnP Control Point.
However, with the technique described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-175724, an apparatus which serves as the UPnP Control Point and that which serves as the UPnP Device are fixed. As a result, the image capturing device cannot often meet the user's requirements when it is connected to external apparatus via the network, and the operability cannot be sufficiently improved.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-80749 describes an arrangement in which the user selects a communication partner at the beginning of a communication, and whether the image capturing device serves as the Control Point or Device is switched according to the selection result. In this case, since the image capturing device may have either of the two roles upon connecting to the television, a display dialog for prompting the user to select the communication partner has complicated contents, and the operability cannot be sufficiently improved.